Humans since ages have been wanderers in search of better life.We Bangalore ASCENDers are a group of sober trekkers who have urban settlements but wander in search of wilderness and in the process are not averse to conquer heights. This amalgamation of wilderness and heights makes the journey all the more interesting and adventurous.Come be a part of these adventures and stimulate your wild instincts.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Posted by
Girish
on
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
11:32 AM
with
10
comments

After my Feb 2013 Ride to Kanyakumari, i was very eager to visit the Top of the
world or i say once in a life time journey to LEH and Ladhak Vally. its just
not only a place but its more to do with my desire to visit both Top and Bottom
places of India in one stretch. Although i could not able to do it in single
ride due to issues with office leaves and other things [technically speaking
one needs at-least 25+ days to do it]. but i was happy that at least i was able
to do this ride, not to forget the fact that i was planning for this from
couple of years and ended every-time missing it by miles.

Now, Visiting LEH and Ladhak valleys is not just reaching a marked place to say
i have been there done that, its more than just a ride or journey. its THE
place which tests one's Physical and Mental strengths , its a test of
one's WILL to do things which others hesitate. and yes this is true at
least for me and add to it, the time constraints. well that's makes a recipe
for my greatest once in a life time adventure. and friends let me take you
along with me to this adventure, which i will cherish for the rest of my life.

One should also give due respect to all those boys and girls , men and women
who done this and who are planning to do it and will do this wonderful journey.

Planning : Planning is not Execution

well planning word doesn't do justice here, its a fact that these rides will
take pretty long time to plan and execute for most of us and for me planning
started from past 4 years and every time i was backtracked due to many reasons.
so last year i made all the arrangements and more than arrangements i made up my
mind to do this ride. but again due to my job change, i have to abandon the
plan.

This year [2013] i have done Kanyakumari ride of almost 2000km in 4 days and
some how i was very sure that this year its gonna happen. from that time
onwards i was planning alone mutely and the big problem was the number of days
needed. As i had only 10 days in my hand and i had to plan for that only. i
tried to ask many of my friends who were riding to LEH and all of them are with
2 full weeks of time.

Time passed and the Manali-Leh roads opened and i was keeping a close watch on
these developments. And one day i was delighted to see one mail from my old
trekking group and these wonderful people have great taste for adventure and
they are also planning for LEH ride and it's there first ride from the BASC
[Bangalore Ascenders ] . It given me great opportunity and as many who are
interested to ride are OK with only 10 days time frame. and quickly plan
developed and everything put in place.

Finally Me,Deepak,Vijay,Rishad,Mahendran,Raghavendra,Kiran,Jatin,Prashanth and Adarsh became Riding group

we decided to start the journey from Chandigarh instead of Delhi to save time
and we made plan exactly for 10 days with only 1 day buffer in case any
problems arise. and Dates are fixed from July 13 to July 23 and we booked the
flights.

It was decided that 5 of us will take our own bike after convincing that taking
our own bikes will give us more freedom and confidence. five of us took our own
bikes and the rest who were unable to take there bike decided to rent the bikes
in Manali.

Day 1 : "All iz well" not really!!

Our Flight was around 8:45AM and we didn't had any problems reaching airport, i
took ride with Vijay on the way to airport and that time i didn't had any idea
that we both gonna do more riding than others in coming days.
Once reached airport we met rest of the ppl and in total 10 members Eight of us
will be taking the same flight. the rest 2 guys will be flying from Delhi to
Manali directly via Chandigarh town.

Flight took almost 4 hours with one stop in Mumbai [Yeah, that's what cheap
flight tickets will get you]
Once we reached Chandigarh, we decided to collect our Bikes from the warehouse
of MMLogistics from who we sent our bikes to Chandigarh, after searching for
the warehouse we took lunch break and when we came back, our bikes were
standing out of warehouse and at the first look everything seemed ok but after
inspecting further we were having shock of our life.
all the bikes were damaged with varying degrees. sadly my R15 took big beating
and the Tank on Left hand side was severely dented. and Deepak who brought his
pulsar 150 was having even bigger issue that his handle bar is totally bent.

This made our moods to nosedive and it took lot of time to get these things
repaired in nearby mechanic shop. for our respite all the bikes were got fixed
and it was already 6PM in the evening.

We already decided not to waste time further and moreover we are short of days
for the rest of the journey. it gave us no flexibility for staying that day in
Chandigarh and we had no choice either.

Our journey Hence started towards Manali which is almost ~350 km and we knew
its not possible to ride the entire stretch in one night given unknown terrain
and hilly roads. So our plan was to make a stay in SundarNagar which is nearly
200km. By the time we reached out of Chandigarh, of-course many time we got
severely confused by seeing similar junctions in this highly planned city,it
was getting Darker.
After Traveling 70km roads started to get worse and it became really difficult
to ride behind those countless lorry/trucks with tons of dirt/dust raining on
us.

Finally after driving till late night we decided to stay in nearest town and we
reached "Bilaspur" around 1:30AM and thankfully got nice stay. Later
we come to know that there is ACC cement factory was responsible for these
heavy dust and traffic of trucks.

Day 2 : Its Green, Its High and With a Twist

The day started with early morning Breakfast and soon after that we started
riding towards Manali, Thankfully the Roads were good and here we started to
get first glimpse of the Himalayan Mountains and at first we really awestruck
just by seeing the height of these mountains. One can't take there eye's off
the River "Beas" which runs parallel to the road till all the way to
Manali which make the entire route very scenic and refreshing.

After the Lazy ride all the way, we reached manali and checked In on of
nearby hotel which is just besides the Market and on the way to "Rothang
pass". that day we spent in shopping and local site seeing.

Note: Its important to get Permits for the outside private
vehicles including Bikes to go beyond "Rothang Pass" and this rule
already there since 2011 but the Manali SDM started enforcing it from 2013
although its rarely checked but make sure you get your passes which costs 120/-
Rs from SDM office or from Green Tax Office, yes from Green Tax Office you can
get on Sunday's also.

Day 3 : Great Things are done when Men and Mountains Meet

The Days plan was very simple, Hit the "Rothang pass" as early as
possible to avoid traffic jam there. and true to our plan we started from
Manali exactly 6 AM in the morning chill. As soon we started we started
encountering like planned ppl climbing the mountains road towards "Rothang
pass" in bikes, cars and Hired vehicles. and fact is we couldn't able to
resist our-self from taking breaks regularly and clicking pics.

The view is magnificent and when i say magnificent that means you never
saw anything like it till now, in your entire life. the mountains were almost
touching the sky's and the huge range of these mountains covered with snow on
the top of the peaks are seems like taken directly from dreamy
imagination.

Finally we reached "Rothang pass", the great pass which is at the
height of about 13,054 ft above sea level. You should know that the word
"Rothang" means "Pile of Corpses" due to its dangerous path
and many have died while crossing it.

Due to melting snow and very narrow pass there was lot of slush and road repair
was being done at that time and the slush itself was about 2-4 feet in some
areas. Luckily most of the bikes didn't face any problems and we passed it. but
after some time we realized that one bike still has to pass that path and after
checking it was found that the rented bike broke down and it was not moving an
inch from that place. well we didn't had any choice but to spend an hour there
trying to fix the bike, but we failed and we called that Bike rental person who
was in Manali to come and fix the bike.

We decided to leave that behind along with our two guys after they said they
can catch up with us later in the day. we took lot of breaks while getting down
and while lot of other Bike riders were also greeted each other on the entire
trip, it was some kind of happy feeling when the rider from opposite wave there
hand and you also return the favor. while the descent was awfully difficult
with all the bad roads starting from that point and we witnessed one small road
slide also.

After coming down the hills the view gets even bigger and thankfully roads also
newly laid, i tried to do couple of fast runs but still couldn't able to do due
to group ride and bike not crossing 120km mark. and this is the last time i hit
120kmph mark in the entire trip that too for just 3 min. i overtook the others
and stopped ahead of them and started to take some pics of the members riding
on this wonderful roads.

Soon after i realized that my bike back tier air pressure is almost nil and
took a break there to fill it up using my foot pump. meanwhile rest of the
group went ahead and Vijay decided to stay with me and he took this opportunity
to click pics of those mighty hills. Soon after that we started towards
"Tandi" which is very small place and only fuel station for the next
350+kms and by the time we reached there, we can see lot of Bikers,cars
were waiting in the fuel station which had no power for the time being. After
waiting for an hour we filled up our tank and took additional 2 ltr petrol as
reserve and headed towards "Jispa" where we planned to stay for the
night.

By the Time we reached "Jispa" it was already 9pm and first thing we
needed to do is to find our other members who already reached "Jispa"
earlier and booked stay. But sadly there was no Mobile network to contact them
and after roaming the "Jispa" for an hour, one of the local person
noticed us and told us go to "Camp Jispa" which is tented stay
located 5km before the "Jispa" village. finally he accompanied us
till the "Camp Jispa" which is almost down hills path from main road.

Once we reached it was very relaxing moment and after getting fresh, we were
able to see the location properly later in the night. and "Camp
Jispa" located just next to the River and soon we sent one text msg to
Prashant&Jitin who's bike broke down earlier in "Rothang pass"
that we are staying in "Camp Jispa" and hoped that they can check SMS
where ever they get signal. Luckily they did and able to come to "Camp
Jispa" 2 hour later.

That night it was very cold due to our camp site is next to river and sadly i
got cold, fever,headache and body pain that night and whole night i was unable
to sleep :(

Day 4 : A Very Long Day

As yesterday night i was down with cold and fever and the fact that i couldn't
able to sleep took a big toll on my body and i was having headache and
body-pain. Morning i took some cold and fever tablet and started our day
towards "Pang" which is on the way towards Leh. we had breakfast just
outside "Jispa" village and i had maggi with egg which made things
worse. I had to mention here both Raghavendra and Adarsh were also suffering
from bad health and last day ride took a beating on them also.

we Reached a Army camp towards "Sarchu" and there we were stopped by
Army personals for Tea and we met a medical officer who is also from Karnataka
and suddenly we became more friendly. and its common site there, as who ever
comes from there own state the bonding was more evident. we spent an hour there
chatting with army personals and discussing how difficult life in these
mountains and fact is the army camp situated at a place which is more beautiful
than anyone can imagine. its surrounded by Himalayas and a flat field is
housing the Army sheds and in one side far end one can see beautiful Himalayan
range with snow caps on them saluting.

The medical officer advised us to take more liquid and less solid food and
asked us to drink water more than normal and also helped Adarsh with quick
checkup and medical aid.

Again Vijay and I started at last and by the time i reached "Baralach
la" and near to "Suraj tal" which is sacred lake, it means
"Lake of the Sun". I was totally exhausted and couldn't able to drive
anymore. my head was paining like anything and coupled with body pain and
difficulty in breathing made things worse.

So i stopped on the side ways and couldn't able to stand as i had almost
no strength. I switched off my bike and slept on the bike sitting. After about
10 min i tilted my head right side and i can't explain you guys that how
amazing scene it was. i was just next to the lake and its crystal clear water
was so calm and the background of the lake was filled with amazing peaks and
its reflection was mirrored on the lake, trust me it was my first out of dream
scene, which i dreamed on my entire life. for a sec i forgot my body pain and
lifted my head and turned around, now i can see all our friends were awestruck
and some are standstill like statue and some very busy in clicking pics even
forgetting its difficult to breath for all due to lack of oxygen.

I got down quickly from "Baralacha la" and once came down i stopped
and took full one hour rest in one small hut like hotel. Took out 3 packs of
ORS and mixed with one ltr of water and drank it quickly. after an hour i had
some energy and i decided to push forward, took one more painkiller and now i
was alone as all of them i asked to push ahead and i will catch with them.

Now one the way to "Sarchu" both Vijay and Mahendran/Rishad were
riding slowly and taking breaks for pics and rest. so practically now i am not
alone. soon we reached "Sarchu" and again i lost all my energy and
couldn't able to ride any further. thankfully all our friends were waiting for
us there and once we reached i told them to go ahead and told them i can't ride
further and i need some rest. as bad it seems both Rishad/Mahendran are also
now down with body-pain and headache as they also had cold, so we all four
including Vijay took almost more than 2 hour rest and adding to this most of
our stomach was totally upset.

Those 2+ hours of rest did a great job and it was life saver. I was started to
recover and soon we started our journey towards "Pang". the landscape
was totally different this side with lot of plane grounds surrounded by sky
high sand mountains and River flowing in between them it was totally worth to
visit this place.

The roads are very well laid out and there are no bad patches, the most
exciting part of this stretch is "Gata loops" a 21 hair pin bends
which elevates to 1.500 feet above the sea level.

The 2+ hour loss did some great for our health but also did some damage to our
timing, as by the time we are nearing the Pang, it was totally dark and bad
roads added more problems. we had to ride in dark for almost 2 hours and in
full dust and windy conditions.The time we reached the Pang stay it was almost
9:30pm and i was totally tiered it was a very long day for me.

I took some soup and just went to bed.

Day 5 : Brighter the Day, higher the Mountains

Due to last night good sleep, i was fully recovered and it was very sunny day.
Me,Vijay,Mahendra and Rishad started late and we four rode in good pace. and we
hit the famous "Mori plains". its almost 40km stretch that is flat at
around 4000mtr.it has some stunning scenery of Sand and Rock formations on the
mountains and sides. the whole area is uninhabited and offers stunning visuals.

we took break for photo shoot in one of dried "Sumkel Lunpa River"
bed.and started our journey towards "Tanglang-La" Worlds second
highest motorable pass. from here the climb starts and reaches to the peak
which is around 17,480ft.

After the "Mori plains" the roads got worse and the climb also added
to that was dust and in many places road work made our pace slow. we took
regular photo breaks and continued riding. and reached "Tangland-La"
Top, from there it was brand new road down with very scenic and some what green
landscape made the journey even joyfull.

But unfortunately the rented bike which Prashant/Jatin riding was break down
again and this time the engine got busted,so we had to leave the bike there and
both of them came as pillian on mine and Vijay Bikes.

On the way to Leh after "Tanglang-La" Descent was nice flat road with
one side river running alone and other side mountains.

We reached Leh city pretty quickly and we stayed in "Sky Desert"
hotel which is near Leh Market and has very good rooms.that evening we spent
relaxing and roamed around city.

Day 6 : The Darker the Night,the Brighter the Stars

Morning woke up early and most of our guys went to check/repair there bikes and
also getting Leh Inner circle permit.
Here important to mention how to get a permit - the SDM office opens 10AM on
working days and issuing of permits will be done from separate office which has
board in the same premisis. One has to go to nearest xerox/photo copier shop
which is just behind the SDM office road and get the forms which will cost
Rs15/- and fill out the forms along with places to visit and give dates usually
some 7 days range and also write all the places to visit, else you won't be
allowed in the checkposts.Now submit the documents along with ID proof copy to
the office with a fee of 340/- per person [120 for permit, 220/- for
environment tax]. wait for the permit, within 15min you will get permit, so
basically it will take 30min to get permit if you go early. else it may take
upto 2 hours but not more than that.

So by the time everyone finished there bike checkup/repair it was 4pm and as
none of us wanted to waste the time, we decided to head to K-Top or
"Kardung-La" top which is regarded as Worlds heighest motorable pass.
which stands at a height of 18,379ft.

This time Vijay exchanged his unicorn with Impulse just for change and let
Jatin ride his Unicorn, but in midway Vijay Crashed while negotiating a small
rock on the road,luckily he fell on his right side rather left side otherwise
he would have fallen off the cliff. He was fortunate enough to walk away with
small bruise on hand and leg. after getting first aid Vijay was able to ride
again.

we reached "Kardung-La" top around 6pm and boy!! it was every biker
dream to reach the top of the world, the experience is unmatchable and feeling
is totally out of this world.

Soon afer me and Vijay decided to head to Nubra vally while others decided to
skip it as we are running short of time. So plan was other will go back to Leh
and next day morning head towards "Pangong Lake". while me and Vijay
will head towards Nubra vally now and next day morning will start from
"Nubra" to "Pangong Lake". well plan is perfect but the
risks are huge. most of ppl we checked with told its impossible to do
"Nubra" to "Pangong" in single day given the bad road
conditions and unpredictable land slides and rain. its gamble to play this
plan.

But both of us are in high aderline and crazy, and we don't think we just ride,
no matter what it may come. and i liked this guy Vijay attitude. well its
always pointless to discuss whether to go or not-to-go about something which
you really wants to go. so we decided to go.

We started towards "Nubra vally" around 7pm in the evening and first
15km from K-Top the roads were pretty bad and adding to that was my bike front
right side fork/shok absorver was leaking oil from first day and it lost all
its repulsive strenth and moreover the leaked oil was spilling directly over
the fron disk and its callipers making the front disk stopping grip useless.

After some 20km we found an Army camp and we cheked with some army personal
about the road and also what all there in Nubra, as we didn't have any idea
what's there in Nubra vally and what to see or where to go. and that army guy
was very helpful and he given us all information and we were happy from the
fact that he said roads will be good till the end.

So we decided to go for "Diskit" and it was already dark but there
was nice moonlight all along the way. the Night was Dark and there was no
vechicles at all on the roads. its just two of our bikes and there headlights,
there is immense silent on those hills apart from our bikes motors singing in
relaxed tune.

Riding night was really fun and i can see all the starts in the sky, which
usually i miss in Bangalore. we took couple of breaks just to get this lonely
feeling in far away land and fact was roads were better which made the journey
even better. we found two more bikers along the way and they asked us whether
they can join us till next village and we agreed although they are not Indians
and might be from EU ,they were riding plusars. we departed from them in next
village and we directly head to Diskit. As we entered Diskit we were welcomed
by around 30 dags on the street, barking at us and even couple of them running
towards us. so we were little bit scared of these dogs and strangly no one is
around the town and we didn't see any person strolling the streets apart from
those dogs.In a bid to search for stay we come across one hotel and deicided to
had food there, and trust me we had a wonderful food that night in whole
journey compared.

We met a cab driver from Srinagar in that hotel and he became friendly in short
time and he suggested us to head to "Hunder" which is some 10km from
"Diskit" for stay and he took us to one resort there, where we stayed
for the night. It was night 11:30 when we went to bed. So the day come to an
end.

Day 7: Night Riders and Mighty Chang-La

The Day was bright and today we planned to reach "Pangaong Lake" by
evening. Yes it was difficult one to ride from "Hundar" [Nubra] to
"Pangaong Lake" which is around 280km distance.
We already decided to go for Duble Hump Camel safari in the white sand dunes
and it was next to our stay only. So after having breakfast which is also part
of our stay package, we headed towards sand dunes it was morning 8AM and
outside temparature was unbearably hot, we were sweating like anything in our
riding gears.

its really strange that one side of the mountains its freezingly cold and here
on the other side its hot like oven.
we took a camel ride and spent some time in the desert and without wasting much
time we headed towards "Kardung La" top, which was our only way back
towards Leh city. our plan was to reach K-Top by 1PM and true to our plan we
reached there by 12:30PM and during this journey we didn't wasted our chance to
feel the Nubra vally and some Buddist temple. once we reached the K-Top we
decided to take some break and spend some photography time and we stayed there
till 1PM.

We started back towards Leh city and just 1km from K-top when we were decending
there was rock slide and our routes were cut off untill BRO [Border Road
Organization] cleared it. and we were stuck there for almost 3 hours which made
all our advantage of saving time useless. So now we are behind our schedule of
reaching the "Pangong Lake" by good 3 hours. well there is no other
option also and it could have been worse.

After continious riding back to Leh we took break in Leh for Lunch at 5PM and
again started towards "Pangaong Lake", we also made mistake of over
shooting a cross by good 30km , we were suppose to take left turn in
"Karu" but we missed it and directly went to "Upshi". after
knowing that we did mistake by missing that turn from an Army checkpost we
headed back to "Karu" and we reached that turn but sadly it was
already evening 7PM and it started to rain, which was first monsoon rain
reaching this region.

Well we already made up our mind that no matter what, we have to reach
"Pangong Lake" and trust me Human Spirit and mind is very powerful,
it can over come any obstacles in its path. we started riding in medium speed
and as soon as we were climbing each hair ping bend curve the temperature was
kept on dropping. i am not sure about the time but when the bad roads started
we knew that we were very near to "Mighty Chang La" and the cold in
surrounding air started to buildup. my hands were started to pain and my R15
quietly started to loose its power as we climbed more and more. Finally we
reached "Chang La" top and our bikes started to struggle to climb.
Due to night, the water level of the streams were higher and cold is
unbearable adding to that my riding shoes torn near the sole, giving way for
water to enter.

Now sitting in my home i still can't believe that we did actually rode and
climbed the "Chang La" in the night with bone freezing cold and with
all the odds against us. well its all in the mindset of a person to overcome
challenges and we did it. we were keep on riding till our destination
"Pangong Lake".
after crossing countless freezing cold streams, Sand dunes, broken bridges
finally we arrived to "Pangong Lake" and its another story to tell
that we reached there by 12:30 AM midnight and spent another hour, just to
check our other fellows who skipped Nubra and came to Pangong early in the day
are sleeping in which tent. as there were some 30 tents and every one in deep
sleep and we both checking each tent for our friends.

Day 8 : If you Climb UP,eventually Have to come DOWN

Morning we woke up and sadly it was cloudy and sunrise was not completely
visible. we took tour of beautiful "Pangong Lake" and spent lot of
time in and around the lake side.
we decided to enjoy today ride back to Leh as last night we couldn't able to
see any landscape in the night. so true to our plan, we rode very slow and
stopping wherever we could feel to stop and take pics,and it was the most
relaxed ride in our entire journey.
the day went without any Major adventure for us by considering the last 2 day's
standard :).

we reached "Karu" and met 3 Bangalore guys who were riding all the
way from Bangalore to Leh on there bikes and even one guy resigned from
his job, just to ride this far. And that time i little knew that in coming days
i will be riding with them.

Day 9 : Strength not lies in Numbers,But in will of a person

Day started with lot of confusion and arguments, as this day was decisive one.
now we have only 3 days including today to spare, and have to go back to
Chandigarh on third day so that we can catch our flight. but things seemed
pretty bad.
First there was curfew in Srinagar yesterday and today from morning its started
raining heavily. along with all these we need to cover more than 1000km in rest
of these days.
Few of our friends were in pretty bad shape due to health problem and rest
don't wanted to take risk of riding in rain as there may be landslide or even
we end up in Srinagar curfew lockdown. so after lot of disscussion and argument
all of them decided to end the journey there in Leh only,
and packed bikes and if possible take flight from Leh itself. But for me its
challenging and once again i made up my mind that i have to finish this journey
on my bike by completing the whole stretch.

I took risk and started Alone from Leh, it was raining and i was confident that
i can reach "Kargil" by the end of the day, and also i made a list of
places to visit on the way.
first was "Magnetic Hill" as the name implies, its something that
difficult to believe, just google it for more info. i spent a good photo
session there in rain. the next one was "Likir","Alchi" and
"Lamayuru" Monastries and the ruined village of "Bosgo".
after covering all of them in quick session. i reached a small village and it
stated raining heavily and i was in no mood to stop, i kept on riding but the
clouds and rains were very much fierce and i can see that due to this rain
there was heavy water stream rushing towads road and its filled with mud and
sand.
the first wave of water and mud hit the bike with full force and the bike
started to wobble but thankfully the roads were newly laid tarmac and before
that road turned in to a big muddy water stream i crossed it quickly.

after some time the rains stopped and i was just 50km away from
"Kargil", then suddenly infront of me there was landslide happened
and all traffic come to halt, until the BRO cleared it and it took almost 1
hour for them to clear that slush of mud and water. and i was waiting in the
front.
Thankfully i met the same 3 Bangalore riders whom i met near "Karu"
after coming from "Pangong Lake" and along with them there was one
more group of Punjabis, suddenly Biker brotherhood evident and we all decided
to ride along and we rode together till "Kargil" and then we decided
to halt in "Drass" instead "Kargil".

we continued our journey till Drass where we halted for the night. and before
that we visited the "Kargil was memorial" in the night and also
decided to give it a visit in the morning again.

Day 10 : Road Runner on The path of Martyrs

A visit to "Kargil War Memorial" brightened our day. it was beautiful
place and more important its the highest respect and resting ground of brave
soldiers who fought for the country. After paying respect and hearing there
stories of bravery we started our journey towards "Srinagar".

our plan was to reach "Jummu" by night and it was really a
challenging journey of 410+km, highest in the whole journey by numbers. so we
started in full swing and the landscape started to change drastically, it was
more beautiful than ever and each kilometers traveled it was new sight
everywhere.
our aim was to Cross the famous "Zozilla Pass" as early as possible
to avoid congestion and traffic. "Zozilla Pass" is also the
highest pass in J&K region and without a doubt its the most dangerous
pass. there is no space or barricade for safety, its all loose gravel/mud road
and prone to land slides.
but view from the pass is unbeatable and its all the green hills which greets
one in to the Vally of beauty.

During all this i got separated from the group and riders from Punjab also got
separated somewhere in midway, so again i was alone and it given me good
opportunity to ride non-stop. i reached "Srinagar" in the
afternoon and due to last day Curfew and some trouble in that city, i decided
not to make halt in "Srinagar" and continued towards
"Jummu". the "Srinagar" to "Jummu" highway is in
very good condition but worst traffic that one can imagine, that entire stretch
was really pain in A**.
Lot of hairpin curves coupled with lot of mindless lorry drivers and insane
tourist vehicle passing through a narrow road in the mountains is really a
scary and tiring ride.

every hour passed by i was getting more and more impatience and tiered and that
took its toll, just before "Jummu" in one of curves i was negotiating
a Lorry, then suddenly a car come in opposite direction and we were in directly
head on, thankfully we both braked and that moment onwards i became extra
careful. i reached "Jummu" by 11PM and i was so damn tiered
that i just took one nearby Lodge/stay and crashed to bed. and it was one of
the worst hotel rooms i have ever stayed :(

Day 11 : The Final Run

Due to bad Hotel room i woke up early and started exactly 6AM in the morning
from "Jummu", but too bad it started raining so heavily that
most of the city roads filled with knee deep water within couple of min.
and i was in no mood to stop, anyway my pant and shoes already got wet
and i felt there is no point in stopping.
i kept riding and thankfully the "Jummu" to "Chandighar"
highway is 4 lane wonderful road and its Flat, suddenly my R15 felt so homely
that it was just matter of time before i reach Chandigarh.
Due to last night half sleep, i started to get Sleep during last 30km ride and
it was so heavy sleep that, to cover 30km i took 12 breaks and everytime i stop
drink water, walk a bit , sit a bit and ride again and after few km, repeat the
same.

After reaching Chandigarh, i checked in one good hotel and that evening
only i sent my bike back to Bangalore via GATI packers and movers. i should
really admire them for sending back bike in such a good packing and care
:)

Day 12 : Back to Home

Nothing spl on this day, just woke up and relaxed till afternoon and then took
flight back to Bangalore along with rest of the team, who also come via same
route as i did, but in hired Qualis instead of bike. well its completely one
more story of there own adventure in the 4 wheeler.

Final Say :

1. It was one of my toughest and memorable Bike journey so far, with so
many places, adventures, risks and pushing one's limit to the brink, its indeed
truly once in a life time journey.
2. Thanks to my friends who rode along with me and to those bikers who in
midway joined with Biker bond to ride together.
3. The Punjabi group of 4 ppl were one of the fun loving guys i have ever met
:)

wow.. love to go to this place.. I had been to Kashmir Great Lakes in Aug'13.. pictures were beautiful.. but the place was not at all easy to go.. same is the case here i believe.. the pics are too good.. I have been to multiple events @ BASC.. but most of them were local 1s.. would like to join next time :)

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Bangalore ASCENDers is a group of outdoor buffs and nature lovers, freaking out conquering peaks, traversing valleys, crossing crystal clear streams, drenching in rains and camping under bright stars. We engage our weekend’s in trekking, fun outings with special kids, adventure sports, cycling, biking, rock climbing, countryside travelling, wildlife photography and being part of eco-conservation drives and other social initiatives.
We are delighted to inform that this is a non-profit group and is solely carried by the efforts of the organizing team and the volunteers. Read More >>